Patton
January 23, 2008
Rated: PG Runtime: 171 min Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
“Now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.”
Every time I think about this movie, I can feel a surge of testosterone coursing through my system. I swear, I think my penis gets an inch longer for a time, too. Guys like war movies and this is my all-time favorite. It doesn’t have the best battle scenes or the best special effects. The main character never engages in any hand-to-hand gladiatorial battles with the enemy. It doesn’t have a lot of blood in it, either. So why is it so good? One name: George C. Scott.
General George S. Patton was a warrior without compare and a true man’s man. He was, perhaps, the greatest general this country has ever seen. To say he was bold, audacious, hard, bloodthirsty and aloof would be wholly inadequate. He was, perhaps as simply as can be put, larger than life itself. And to successfully portray a man like that requires a supremely gifted actor giving the performance of a lifetime and, in this, Scott does just that. The famous opening speech gave me goose pimples the first time I saw the movie. Hell, I wanted to go grab my father’s .30-06 rifle out of the closet right then and there and march off to war behind the man I was seeing on the screen. Nevermind it was the mid 70’s and we weren’t at war with anyone at the time. It just didn’t matter because I wanted to follow that man into battle. Such was the nature of General Patton. That George C. Scott could recreate him so accurately and intensely puts his performance at or near the top of any ‘best of all time’ list.
“The Nazis are the enemy. Wade into them. Spill *their* blood. Shoot *them* in the belly.”
After the stirring speech the movie takes a breath and begins to unfold in a more normal fashion. Patton, like the hand of a god, takes command of the U.S. forces in North Africa and transforms these rag-tag soldiers into a hungry, aggressive army through sheer force of will. His victories pile up as does his fame. He is just what the doctor ordered! Morale improves and soon it appears we might win WWII after all! There is a problem, however. General Patton is not a quiet man nor is he a particularly nice man. He is, in the eyes of many, quite offensive and he does some very harsh things. Such is the nature of war. But now that things are going well, it seems the American people are much less inclined to allow him his faults. And then, at a very inopportune time, he gets angry at a soldier suffering from battle fatigue. He slaps the soldier, calls him a coward, and orders him to be marched to the front. Popular opinion turns against him and his turn from brilliant field general to worldwide embarrassment is complete.
“We’re not just going to shoot the bastards, we’re going to cut out their living guts and use them to grease the treads on our tanks.”
Buried in controversy and shame, he is removed from command. America, it seems, cannot afford a harsh, unforgiving general to lead its armies. He is used as a decoy for a while; a humiliating duty, to be sure. But, as all fallible heroes of legend do, he gets a second chance. Being a true hero, he takes advantage of this second chance and leads us, once again, to victory multiple times after the invasion of Normandy. He even used the Nazi’s own Blitzkrieg tactics against them and pulled off some of the most remarkable victories of the entire war.
“The last great opportunity of a lifetime – an entire world at war, and I’m left out of it?!? God will *not* permit this to happen! I *will* be allowed to fulfill my destiny! His will be done.”
But what then? What if doctors finally managed to cure the world of all its ailments? They would no longer be needed. They would fade from existence over a short time. Such is what happened after World War II. With no more fighting, there was no need for the pure warrior. A glimpse into this lonely afterlife is seen; an afterlife that the general himself was well aware of. In real life, General Patton died of complications of injuries incurred after an automobile accident in December of 1945, not long after the war. Some people would point that incident and decry the unfortunate timing and the ironic nature of his death. I suspect, though, that the General himself wouldn’t have thought it so bad. Better for a warrior to die than to live out a long life with nothing left to fight for.
“There’s only one proper way for a professional soldier to die: the last bullet of the last battle of the last war.”
Well said, General. Well said.
Popularity: 13% [?]
Seen it? How many stars do you give it?
(3 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
Loading ...Comments
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Gun Play
Blood & Gore Car Chases T&A Chuckles |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
[...] from yesteryear and give our modern take on it. This weeks pick is the mega-blockbuster war movie, Patton. If you’ve never seen it, you’ll want to put it on your list to see despite it being [...]